Chicken and egg prices likely to surge after soybean meal shortage

KARACHI: Following the soybean meal shortage, the country is expected to see a sharp surge in the prices of chicken and egg, ARY News reported on Monday.

The prices of chicken would be soared up to Rs1,000 per kilogram and eggs per dozen up to Rs500 due to soybean meal scarcity due to non-clearance of soybean and canola seed shipments at the port.

The soybean and canola seed shipments are facing a delay in clearance at the port due to the negligence of the federal government, affecting the poultry farms and other industries.

The Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) and All Pakistan Solvent Extractors’ Association (APSEA) staged a protest at Karachi Press Club (KPC) today. The APSEA chairman Mian Muhammad Ahmed said that four ships carrying stocks of soybean meal reached the port.

He said that two out of four ships unloaded the soybean stocks but the concerned officials have not given the clearance so far. He said that two more ships carrying soybean stocks were anchored at Port Qasim Outer Channel while five more shipments are likely to arrive in Pakistan soon.

He said that the port has $45 million in import consignments and further delay will not only affect the imports of 60 million metric tonnes of soybean besides causing a scarcity of chicken meat and eggs in the country.

The PPA chairman Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf said if the issue is not addressed, the country will have to import eggs and chickens.

They demanded the federal government to immediately resolve the issue besides issuing a notification for the crushing of soybean and canola meals.